Windows 10 Isn’t Spyware but It Wants Your Data - Digits - WSJ

"But let’s be clear: Microsoft made Windows 10 a free upgrade because it has the explicit goal of making money from Internet services, ads, apps and games that run on it. Microsoft’s financial people call this new business model “customer lifetime value”—they don’t want to make money just when you buy a new PC, but on an ongoing basis. Microsoft made $3.6 billion from search engine advertising last year. They’re not selling our data, but they’re certainly making use of it.

Any information shared with Microsoft is at your discretion—we will not collect information without your permission,” says a Microsoft spokesman.

That’s good to hear, but many of Microsoft’s data collection systems are turned on by default. Opting out requires knowing where to look, and disabling some of the features in Windows 10."

p.s. I now have Windows 10 running on my Mac (check this post for some tips, if you're using Parallels and have been blocked by a display adapter incompatibility) and an approximately 5-year-old Dell laptop; Windows 10 is working well on both, so far